Introduction:
Russian super grandmaster GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, also known as “Nepo,” is a two-time winner of the Candidates Tournament, allowing him to compete for the world title. He faced GM Magnus Carlsen for the 2021 World Championship after winning the 2020–21 Candidates Tournament, but he was defeated in 11 games.
Since his early years, the Russian GM has won multiple titles, including the 2016 Tal Memorial, the 2008 and 2015 Aeroflot Open, the 2010 European Individual, and the Russian Superfinal in 2020. Along with these achievements, he also took home two silver medals from the World Rapid Championship, one silver medal from the World Blitz Championship, and one silver medal from the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2022.
Early Life and Career
Born 350 miles from Moscow in Bryansk, an ancient city, Ian Nepomniachtchi. At the age of five, Ian began playing chess, receiving his first training from FM Valentin Ekimenko. Ian’s first wins came when he was seven years old, and as time went on, he began to defeat master-level competitors and win more competitions. Upon observing Ian’s remarkable development, Ekimenko gave him over to the famous mentor IM Valery Zilberstein, who sadly passed away in 2005. Ian received coaching at the national level from Russian youth team coach GM Sergey Janovsky, who has the important and unique ability to secure sponsors.
Among very great players who were also born in 1989–1991—Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Dmitry Andreikin, Wang Hao, and Le Quang Liem—Nepomniachtchi quickly emerged as the European and World Youth Champion.
At the time, Nepo was regarded as the greatest chess player of his generation and regularly appeared in the Russian media. For Ian’s training sessions, Janovsky secured the services of top instructors such as GM Sergey Shipov, IM Mark Dvoretsky, and GM Igor Zaitsev, who also happens to be Karpov’s coach.
Playing Style
Nepomniachtchi almost always starts as White with 1.e4 in the opening, perhaps with some English (1.c4). When playing as Black, he usually plays the Italian against 1.e4, sometimes utilizing the French and his primary move against 1.d4 is the Grunfeld. Nepomniachtchi altered his Black openings in the 2021 World Championship, going from 1…c5 to 1…e5 in response to 1.e4.
His harmful style is usually clear in his middlegame, as this game from the 2017 Sharjah Grand Prix may be the best example of.
Nepomniachtchi is also an excellent competitor in blitz and quick games when it is critical to attack and make the defense make tough choices.
Adult Career
2010 saw Nepomniachtchi win his first Russian Championship after he played the end game as Black and defeated Karjakin in a playoff. Up until December 2020, when he won it again, it was his only victory in the competition. GM Peter Svidler defeated him in a playoff game in 2013, and he didn’t play again until 2019 when he came in fourth place.
It wasn’t just the Russian Championship that Nepomniachtchi won in 2010. He also won the European Individual Chess Championship earlier in the year. Nepomniachtchi turned 20 in July of 2010, the same month he joined the 2700 club, thanks to his achievements in 2010.
Nepomniachtchi advanced to a higher board in each of the annual events since 2014 and competed for Russia in the Chess Olympiad in 2010. In 2010, Russia had two teams; Nepomniachtchi guided the “B” team to sixth place (the “A” team placed second). He played the fifth, fourth, and second boards for Russian teams that placed fourth, third, and third in 2014, 2016, and 2018, respectively.
Nepomniachtchi has also won tournaments in the Tal Memorial in 2016 and the Aeroflot Open twice, in 2008 and 2015. The largest of all, though, arrived in 2021.
World Championship Chances
Before the 2020 cycle, Nepomniachtchi had the chance to speak with the Candidates. In the third round of the 2011 Chess World Cup, GM Gata Kamsky defeated the 25th seed. Although he was ranked 24th in 2013, GM Wei Yi stunned him in the first round. He advanced to the third round once more in 2015, losing 5–4 to second-seeded GM Hikaru Nakamura. 2017 saw him lose in the third round once more (as the 15 seed against the 47th-ranked GM Baadur Jobava). He got to the fourth round in 2019 but was defeated by GM Yu Yangyi, ranked twelve.
Nepomniachtchi qualified for the 2020 Candidates Tournament through the 2019 FIDE Grand Tournament. Even though he had won the 2019 Moscow Grand Prix, he needed to do well in the Jerusalem competition. Nepomniachtchi narrowly defeated French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to take second place in the overall championship standings following the 2019 FIDE Grand Championship final round. Nepomniachtchi advanced to the Candidates after a 96-move marathon against GM Wei Yi in the finals.
Nepomniachtchi won the 2020–2021 Candidates Tournament after six rounds with three victories and three draws. However, in the seventh round, she was defeated by Vachier–Lagrave and ended up in a tie for first place. At the time, the COVID-19 outbreak and travel restrictions in Russia caused the Candidates’ competition to be delayed.
Nepomniachtchi won the tournament with one round remaining in April 2021 after defeating GM Kirill Alekseenko in round 10 and GM Wang Hao in round 12 (below). Round 13 resulted in a tie, which sealed the title with one round remaining.
Nepomniachtchi started the 2021 World Championship against Carlsen with five straight draws. After that, he lost a very competitive sixth game—the longest in world championship history at 136 moves—that was played in a close match. At that time, Nepomniachtchi lost the match, with Carlsen winning 7.5-3.5.
With one round remaining, Epomniachtchi won the next Candidates Tournament in 2022 as well, earning a spot in the FIDE World Championship match for 2023. After deciding not to defend the championship, Carlsen faced up against Ding Liren.
With three matches left, Nepomniachtchi led Ding by a point but lost a heartbreaking game 12. Ding won the match and the fourth rapid game after two more draws and three draws in quick tiebreaks.
For most of the 2024 Candidates Tournament, Nepomniachtchi was in the lead or tied for the lead; but, going into the final round, she was behind by just 0.5 points. The event was won by GM Gukesh Dommaraju since he was unable to compel a playoff.
Additional Amazing Information about Ian Nepomniachtchi
Nepo’s overall record against world champions is excellent. Before their 2021 match, he had a winning record against Magnus Carlsen (+4 -1 =6, with two wins happening in their young careers). He also had good scores against GM Vladimir Kramnik (+5 -4 =4) and GM Viswanathan Anand (+3 -2 =5) under conventional time limits. Nepomniachtchi has also had success in rapid/blitz, the only formats in which he has played GMs Garry Kasparov (+2 -0 =3 from 2017-21) and Anatoly Karpov (+2 -0 =0 in 2013).
Nepo has burned 3,171 calories during the 2023 WR Masters, according to Chessarena!